


choo choo

by kagewho



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, not a foursome, shawty brave, shawty want the whole crew, well probably not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29982084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kagewho/pseuds/kagewho
Summary: You just started university and you promised yourself you wouldn't get involved with anybody but the (very hot) boys of the volleyball club made no such promise.in which, you have all four of the seijho third years falling for you
Relationships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Reader, Iwaizumi Hajime/Reader, Matsukawa Issei/Reader, Oikawa Tooru/Reader, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 59





	1. the boy next door

‘Thank you,’ You waved as the taxi pulled out of the small parking lot in front of the apartment complex, leaving you with a suitcase and several boxes of your stuff.

Pulling your phone from where it sat in your jacket pocket, you checked the time. You were way earlier than you said you’d be. Yesterday, you’d told your soon-to-be roommate that you’d be arriving at about four pm and since she was already all settled, she offered to be there to help you move in. You’d accepted her offer with extreme gratitude as you had no one else that could come down to help you with all your stuff and she told you it was really no problem and to just text her when you arrived. 

It was only three o’clock and therefore very possible she wasn’t even home since you knew she had a job already. Nonetheless, you fired off a text letting her know you were here and apologising for being early. Since there was no way you would be able to carry all your stuff up at once and you didn’t feel it was the best idea to leave half of your belongings unattended on the sidewalk in an attempt to take it upstairs in multiple trips, you were kind of stranded if she wasn’t home.

After the first few minutes with no reply, you moved to zip up your jacket as you considered what your options were if she took too long to reply or if she did reply and she was still at work. 

Trees that lined the street beside the apartment building were still full of healthy green leaves; the loud rustling they produced as a chilling wind blustered through them signalled that autumn was fast approaching. The road was pretty quiet, you were relatively far from the city’s centre here but close enough that you could still catch a bus to your university. 

Another bluster of wind blew through the mostly empty parking lot and you shivered involuntarily as you checked your phone again, this time a message appeared on the screen; your roommate apologising profusely as she told you that she wouldn’t be home for a while because she couldn’t get out of work. A sigh of frustration left your lips but it wasn’t directed at her, you shouldn’t have overestimated how much time it would take to get here out of fear that you would be late. You reassured her that it was all your fault and told her not to worry about rushing, adding a little smile face to the end of the message to ensure that it read how you intended. 

As you lifted your head from staring down at your phone, a car pulled messily into the parking lot; stopping a few spaces away from you almost entirely diagonal to the rectangle you assumed they had attempted to park in. The white Fiat 500 sat beside a shiny, black Jeep Wrangler and you couldn’t help but think such a large juxtaposition between styles was funny, you wondered if the owners were friends since they must both live in this apartment complex. 

You heard the engine shut off and the sound of a car door opening, followed by some loud rustling and then the loud slam of the door closing. Eventually, the driver rounded the rear of the car and you could see them for the first time.   
The boy had to be at least six foot tall with a halo of soft brown locks crowning his head. The long, slender fingers of his left hand were holding several bags of groceries; in his right hand he was holding a phone up and glaring at it intently, a look of severe confusion clouding his warm caramel, coloured eyes. 

As he neared where you were stood, you snapped your eyes down to the ground before he even noticed you. You were gawking pretty obviously. Where you waited, with all of your stuff sprawled out next to you, was pretty much directly in front of the entrance. So if he kept walking without looking up- which seemed to be his intention- he was going to walk directly into you.

‘Hey,’ You spoke, immediately drawing his attention up from his phone. 

He looked from your face to your belongings around you; his expression contorted from one of curiosity to bridled frustration and a hint of annoyance.

‘Look,’ He started, placing what you assumed was intended to be a comforting hand on your shoulder, ‘You’re very pretty but I keep telling you fan girls, you can’t just try to randomly move in with me.’

You scoffed aloud, pushing his hand off your shoulder and furrowing your eyebrows in confusion.

‘I’m sorry but who the fuck are you?’ Your question seemed to shock him as you watched his eyes widen as he stepped back from you.

You hadn’t intended for your first meeting with a neighbour to start with you being rude but who did this guy think he was? How far up yourself did he have to be to assume you were some crazy fan girl of his? 

‘You don’t know me?’

‘Was I meant to stalk my neighbours before I moved in?’ Your tone sarcastic as you asked that rhetorical question, you levelled your tone before continuing, ‘No, I have no idea who you are.’

‘Neighbour?’ He echoed inquisitively, ‘Wait what’s your name?’

You reluctantly informed him of your name and a look of realisation spread across his face.

‘Ohhh, you’re Yachi’s new roommate?’ You affirmed his statement with a small nod.

‘You know Yachi?’ You inquired, you hadn’t known the girl long but she seemed much too shy to initiate a friendship with a six foot plus man with such an outgoing and assertive disposition.

‘Of course,’ Any air of frustration or confusion had lifted from his expression, a sickeningly sweet smirk now spread across his feature, ‘I make an effort to get to know all of my neighbours.’

‘Wonderful,’ Sarcasm dripped from your words. 

The stranger looked down at your belongings once more before speaking again.

‘Do you need some help?’ He offered, gesturing to your stuff around you. His words seemed kind but after how he had just spoken you doubted it was sincere.

‘Uhh,’ You stumbled for a moment.

You did need help. It was getting darker by the second, the clouds covering the sunlight signalling the arrival of rain. Plus, you had no real estimation for when Yachi was getting back nor had you managed to come up with another way of getting all your stuff inside without leaving some of it abandoned on the sidewalk. But then again, you didn’t like the idea of enlisting the help of whoever this entitled stranger was.

‘No, I-’ You began to speak but he interrupted. 

‘To make up for the fan girl comment,’ He placed a hand on your shoulder again with a smile, ‘Plus I need to get to know my cute, new neighbour.’

You shrugged his hand off your shoulder with a small grimace, trying to ignore how your cheeks warmed with his compliment.

‘Fine,’ You conceded and he began to bend down to grab a box but you stopped him with a hand on his chest. God he was toned, you could feel it through his shirt, ‘J-Just stand here, I can take the stuff up. I just don’t want someone to steal my stuff while I’m inside.’

‘Don’t be silly!’ He exclaimed and you were about to argue but he continued, placing his bags of shopping down, ‘I’ll go see if Hajime is in! I’m sure he’ll be down to help.’

You made a noise of protest but he was already on his way past you, striding into the building, leaving you with his shopping out in the cold. 

Another loud sigh escaped your lips as you thought about what kind of company that man must keep. You shuddered at the thought that there might be two of him. But you weren’t able to hate the idea of him having a roommate as attractive as he was. He was very, very attractive and, from the feel of his chest, he was ripped. You wondered if he played any sports before silently hoping he would be joining the volleyball club that you were planning to help manage. 

Despite not being enamoured by his first impression, you made the executive decision to give him a second chance, promising yourself it wasn’t just because he was hot. After all, he was going to be your neighbour for at least the next year so it would probably be best to get along. Also, if he really did have fangirls intruding on his privacy, you could hardly judge him too harshly for that reaction. 

\---

A few minutes later, the door to the apartment complex opened again revealing the brown eyed stranger with a disappointed look on his face.

‘Hajime isn’t here,’ He told you with a pout, ‘He’s probably at the gym.’

‘Oh,’ You didn’t really know what else to say as you tried to avoid allowing your mind to wander to picturing the man in front of you, shirtless and sweaty, while working out.

‘Yeah so it’s just us!’ He slung an arm around your shoulder and you did your best not to shove his arm away for a third time but you failed. You slipped from under his grasp and turned to face him

‘Okay so do I at least get to know your name?’ You inquired, ‘Or do you need to inspect me to make sure I’m not some sort of spy?’

‘While I would like to inspect you,’ You watched as his gaze emphasised the meaning behind his words as he dragged it lazily up and down your body. You would’ve called him out on it but you were literally wearing a zipped up coat and a pair of your comfiest joggers, there was no way he was getting much out of ogling you, ‘I can tell from your attitude that you’re not a fangirl spy.’

‘My attitude?’ You realised the irony in your exclamation as an unimpressed tone slipped back into your voice, you had to restrain yourself from crossing your arms.

‘Yeah, that’s the one,’ He said with a melodic chuckle as he reconnected his eyes with yours, ‘If I didn’t know any better, I’d even say you don’t like me.’

You raised your eyebrows but refrained from saying anything, reminding yourself to give him a chance.

‘Anyways, my name is Oikawa but my friends call me Tooru,’ He offered you a wink.

‘Oikawa it is then,’ You smiled at him for the first time since you had met. 

He laughed again, reaching down to lift a box from the floor to hide the expression that crossed his face. Again, you stopped him with a hand on his chest, not noticing the way his eyes lit up.

‘I was serious before,’ You told him, ‘You can just wait here with the stuff, I’ll carry it all up.’

Oikawa looked at you swaddled in a jacket that was far too thin to be a good match for the temperature and decided to concede rather than have you be the one waiting out in the cold. He failed to realise that engaging in an argument with you about it would not result in him getting his way in the slightest anyway.

‘I suppose that’s fine,’ He said, dramatically rolling his eyes. 

You extended a hand to him, palm up. When he stared at it confused, you made a grabbing motion. He thought for a moment, glancing up at your expectant face and back to your hand before grabbing it, rotating it 180 degrees and placing a light peck on the cool skin of the back of your hand.

‘No, you idiot,’ You reprimanded him, snatching your hand out of his grasp, ‘Give me your key, dumbass.’ 

‘My key? Why?’ 

‘Just give it to me,’ You offered your hand out again but further away from him this time.

He considered it for a moment before shrugging and pulling his key out of his pocket and dropping into your outstretched hand. Then he watched as you picked out a couple of your boxes, grumbling about him how he was weird and questioning ‘who the hell does that to someone they just met?’. After you grabbed what you could carry of your own stuff, you bent at the knees, scooping up the handles of his grocery bags and heading into the building, thankful that the doors were motioned sensors. 

Oikawa was going to stop you, insisting that he at least carry his own stuff up but if your past stubbornness was anything to go by he knew it would be pointless so he just watched with a smile as you receded into the warm building. 

\---

It only took you two trips for there to be a manageable amount of stuff left for the pair of you to take the remainder of the boxes up in one final trip. So when you arrived back in reception empty handed, you could see through the opening doors that Oikawa already had loaded up a majority of the stuff in his arms. 

When he saw you coming he shot you a mischievous smile, you felt like he had only picked up the stuff before you arrived just to make sure you didn’t make him wait while you made two unnecessary trips to carry all the stuff up by yourself. That was precisely why he had done it. 

You quickly scooped up the rest of your belongings and led the way to your apartment on the third floor. 

‘Sooo,’ Oikawa began, glancing at you sideways as you both stood in the elevator, ‘What brings you to my humble little corner of Tokyo?’

‘I’m gonna be studying at Aoba Johsai University,’ You inform him, not giving him anymore than the information he asks for.  
‘Really?’ His eyes widened in excitement, ‘Me and Hajime go there! Well we start on Monday, like you.’

‘You’re a first year?’ You ask in disbelief, looking him up and down. 

You would’ve guessed he attended the university purely because of the apartment building’s proximity to the campus but he seemed older than 18, by a year or two at least. He must have caught you eyeing him before he answered you.

‘I know I’m in amazing shape for a first year,’ He winked at you before puffing out his chest and taking on a prideful expression, ‘I played volleyball in high school, at a national level, so I still tend to stay on top of my workouts and all that.’

‘Oh really?’ Genuine interest piquing in your voice and expression, ‘That’s so cool! What was it like?’

The pair of you launched into a long conversation about volleyball and high school as you made it to your apartment, you even allowed him to stay and help you unpack a bit since you were still deep in discussion. You shared that you used to help out the team at your old school and he said he was planning to carry on training at university since they had a pretty good club. He was quickly growing on you, but you failed to tell him that you were planning to manage for the university’s volleyball team. He never asked, to be fair.

\---

Eventually, Yachi returned from work, apologising profusely for not being there to help you move in. You reassured her time and time again that her sorry's weren’t necessary and it was your fault for being early but her rambling continued until you told her that Oikawa had helped you carry your stuff. She then moved to thanking him for helping and again apologising for any inconvenience it caused him. 

Oikawa shrugged her thank yous off with a nonchalant wave of his hand, confirming that it was in fact no trouble and he’d had a good time getting to know you. At this comment, you concealed a smile. 

When Yachi finally stopped her unneeded placating, Oikawa began to head out of your apartment.

‘We’re gonna watch a movie later tonight, if you guys wanna come over?’ The tall man offered with a charming smile.

Yachi looked at you, waiting for you to indicate whether or not you wanted to accept his invitation. You thought for a moment, glancing from Yachi to Oikawa and then back to Yachi. From what you could tell, she seemed to be ever so slightly nervous around Oikawa and you didn’t know yet if that was just her disposition or if he had done something. 

You noticed Oikawa raise his eyebrows, waiting for a response.

‘Actually I brought some face masks and stuff for me and Yachi,’ You informed him, noticing some of the tension drop from Yachi’s shoulders, ‘So I think we’re gonna pass tonight.’

‘I like facemasks,’ He offered you another smirk that you almost wrinkled your nose at, ‘Though I can’t speak for that brute Hajime.’

‘Uh-uh,’ You shook your head, wagging a finger at him as you stepped closer to where he was standing by the door, ‘Girls only, so get lost.’ 

‘Fine, fine,’ He raised his hands in defeat as he headed out of the apartment, ‘I’ll see you both around.’

‘Yeah, see you later maybe,’ You replied, following closely behind him with your hand on the door.

‘What do you mean may…?’ He whipped around as he finally fully exited the apartment but you were already slamming the door in his face, cutting his sentence off. 

You turned on your heel, leaning your back on the door to face your new roommate with a chuckle.

‘I thought he’d never leave,’ She joined you in your laughter after you spoke.

‘Yeah, he’s used to not worrying about the idea of overstaying his welcome,’ Her melodic giggle accompanied her words.

‘I can see that,’ You rolled your eyes, ‘But what do you know about his roommate?’


	2. debating is just cursive arguing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some borderline academic language in this, I'll put explanations at the end but they aren't necessary :)

‘Okay,blink,’ You instructed Yachi, holding the mascara wand up against her eyelashes, ‘No, blink slower than that.’

‘Sorry, sorry,’ She leaned her head away from your hand; taking a deep breath.

You and your roommate sat cross-legged, facing each other on the floor of your living room. With many blankets sprawled out underneath you so your bare skin didn’t come into contact with the cold laminate. The TV was still playing a Disney movie that was being largely ignored save for when a song came on that either of you knew the lyrics too. An awfully pitchy karaoke would ensue as the song played and then you would go straight back to whatever activity you were doing, paying little mind to the movies you had both seen a hundred times. 

Maybe because of how long the two of you had spent communicating over the phone, or perhaps due to an entirely different reason, it had been so easy for you and Yachi to get along and fall into conversation like you were old childhood friends. 

Currently, you were attempting to do her makeup but she seemed to be having a hard time cooperating with your instructions. She kept fidgeting and breathing very, very heavily. But you had managed to get through a vast majority of the products you had planned to use. All that was left now was the mascara. And it was proving to be the hardest step of all.

‘You don’t have to apologise so much,’ You told her, she had said the word ‘sorry’ -or some variation of the word- a good twenty times while you were doing her makeup alone.

‘I know, I’m sorry!’ She clapped her hand over her mouth as she realised what she’d said.

You just smiled at her and shook your head, it’s not like she was doing it on purpose.

‘Are you ready?’ You brandished the mascara wand again.

She swallowed thickly but moved back towards your hand, signalling that she was ready to try again. This time it went a bit more smoothly, she blinked slowly enough for you to apply the black liquid accurately. Though she seemed to be holding her breath.

‘Okay so… About Oikawa’s roommate,’ You began, ‘Hajime? Is it?’

‘Yeah, he doesn’t come around as often as Oikawa does,’ Yachi replied as you switched to coating the eyelashes on her other eye, ‘But I’ve met him, he seems nice enough.’

‘Hmm,’ You thought for a moment. If Yachi said he seems nice, then he probably was. Since she seemed to be uncomfortable around people she doesn’t know, her describing him as such implied he was generally nice or had been kind enough to accommodate her panicked state, ‘Do you know what he’s studying?’

‘He said something about wanting to be a physical therapist, I think,’ She explained, ‘But I’m not sure what classes he’s taking, sorry.’

‘No it’s okay,’ You reassured her, pulling the wand away from her eye, ‘I shouldn’t even be asking, I said I wouldn’t be getting involved with anyone for at least the first semester.’

Yachi nodded while she blinked rapidly, leaning her head back in a desperate attempt to try and make sure her eyes didn’t water and ruin her newly finished makeup.

‘What about you?’ You inquired, you hadn’t really covered the subject of relationships with her yet, ‘You have a boyfriend?’

Her answer was delayed, she didn’t even angle her head to look at you.

‘... Or girlfriend?’ You added with a raised eyebrow that she couldn’t see.

At this addition, her head snapped down to face you. Her eyes were widened and she stuttered over her next sentence as it fumbled from her mouth.

‘Um- I- Uh,’ You waited patiently as she stumbled across her words, trying to decide what to say, ‘How did you know?’

You just offered her a nonchalant shrug.

‘I didn’t,’ And it was true, you might’ve had your assumptions but you weren’t always right about these things, ‘But it’s probably easier for you to say if I ask about it, right?’

You didn’t want to pressure her to answer anything she wasn’t okay with answering. So if she’d said no to your initial question, you would’ve dropped it and changed the subject but she seemed to be fine for now, maybe a little taken by surprise though.

‘Yeah, it is,’ You had assumed as such, ‘And you don’t mind?’

Her expression was hopeful but she was playing with her fingers; revealing how nervous she really was. Pity softened your expression at her cageiness about your response. You cared very little about who dated who as long as it was legal and consensual but it struck you that people had probably not expressed a similar sentiment towards it around her.

‘As long as you let me know when you guys want the apartment so I don’t intrude on anything private,’ You told her with a small smile, ‘I don’t care who you fuck.’

She let out a light chuckle of relief and the tension in her shoulders dropped.

‘Okay,’ She rubbed her neck sheepishly, ‘I’ll make sure to let you know.’

‘Cool,’ You offered her a slightly bigger smile, hoping to ease her worry some more, ‘So what’s her name?’

At this question, a cheek-splitting grin spread rapidly across her face as she told you her name was Kiyoko and she was beautiful and how she was a few years older. Yachi spent a majority of the rest of the night gushing about her girlfriend who was -in her own words- ‘way way way out of her league’. 

You spent the rest of the evening nodding along to any information she told you, trying your best to commit it to memory right away. She showed you a few pictures of them together and many more candids that she had snuck of Kiyoko while she wasn’t paying enough attention. Between each good photo there were plenty of blurry ones and ones where Kiyoko had clocked onto her photography session and covered her face or the camera with her hand. 

A good while later, you both fell asleep on the living room floor in a mess of pillows and blankets and empty candy wrappers. Yachi knocked out first, probably due to her enthusiastic rambling. And you a little later, after you had done your best to cover her with a blanket and turned out any of the lights that were left on.

\---

The next morning was filled with regret. Severe back ache paired accompanied by a mouth drier than the surface of Mars. You felt like a grandma; grabbing onto the couch to support you as you moaned and groaned lifting yourself off of the floor. You swore it had never hurt this much to sleep in a pile of blankets when you were a kid. Maybe you really were getting old.

Yachi was already up but she was still groggy from her sleep and the makeup you had applied to her last night was now smeared all over her face. You kindly pointed this out to her; laughing at her resemblance to a racoon with the rings of black mascara around her eyes before offering her some make up wipes and sending her off to the bathroom.

When she returned, the pair of you made some breakfast before setting to work on cleaning up after yourselves. It wasn’t too much work; you got through it fairly quickly by dividing the jobs between you both, chatting and playing music a little too loud for nine in the morning.

After the living room was sorted, there was the mammoth task of sorting all of your stuff: unloading all the boxes, filling your room with your necessities and finding a place for your stuff in any shared spaces.

The blonde, of course, insisted on helping since she had been MIA when you had arrived and the responsibility had fallen on you and Oikawa to carry your stuff up to the apartment. You argued against her helping as you didn’t want to encourage anymore of these apologetic actions but she seemed more certain about this than anything she had been since you had met her so you conceded since you had already unpacked some of the stuff with the help of Oikawa so there wasn’t as much as there could’ve been.

As you opened the first of the remaining boxes, you were reminded of just how much you wished you were a more organised person. Nothing was labelled, or sorted into boxes with similar stuff. It was a mess. Like you had just thrown items, willy-nilly, into random boxes. Which was exactly what you had done, because you procrastinated packing until the very last second, but you didn’t think it would be so obvious.

Nonetheless, you began putting your stuff away with the aid of your kind roommate. It was a long task. You paused at about midday to eat lunch before starting up again and working until everything was cleared away. The task was all finished by late afternoon. 

You spent the rest of the day lounging around, getting accustomed to your new environment and enjoying your last day of total rest before the classes started. It wasn’t long before you decided to retire to your room, just to get some final organisation done as you promised yourself you would stay more on top of things in university. Honestly, you were deluding yourself if you thought you would be able to keep that up but a person can dream. When everything was truly finished, you didn’t go back out to the living room.

Instead you decided to chill on your bed and collect your thoughts while listening to your music as you often did. It felt wrong, though. The mattress didn’t have that familiar dip that you would always sink into. Sheets fresh from the store smelled more like starch and strangers than they did of you. Golden light of one of the last late sunsets seeped through the window in a familiar way but it hit your face all wrong; you had to shuffle across the bed to keep it from blinding you. It so jarringly wasn’t the home you were used to and it felt weird. But you could learn to find comfort in the sharp bed springs and the sheets would adapt your scent soon enough.

You were excited to start school. As exhausting as you knew it would be, you were finally doing something you wanted to do so that should at least make it more bearable than high school. You hoped.

One thing that you weren’t going to let hinder your university experience was relationships. You had told yourself. No. Promised yourself. You had promised yourself that you wouldn’t be getting involved with boys or girls or whatever in more than a platonic way. Relationships seemed to always spell trouble for you and you were not about to trip yourself up at the starting blocks. So you would go, at the very very least, the entire first semester of university without getting romantically involved with anyone.

That being said. Just because you were not allowing yourself to enjoy the dishes, did not mean you weren’t allowed to peruse the menu. So asking your roommate about Hajime was technically not breaking the rules. Nor was discreetly ogling Oikawa as his muscle tensed in his bicep when he lifted a heavy box or two. Though it probably wasn’t a good idea to let your mind run too rampant in imaginings of whether his muscles tensed in the same way when he gripped a headboard.

Yeah, you should definitely avoid doing that.

The rest of your evening was spent doing very much of nothing. You offered to cook dinner for Yachi to thank her for your help. She’d disagreed, saying a thank you wasn’t needed but you did it anyway and you ate together in the living room. Not long after, you wished each other a goodnight and retired to your rooms. As you drifted off to sleep, you heard her muffled giggles through the wall as she chatted to who you assumed was her girlfriend. Despite your promise, you had to admit you were slightly envious.

\---  
After somehow sleeping through two alarms, you woke up in a frantic rush to get out of the door with all the stuff you thought you’d need for your first day. You chose the most comfortable and basic outfit you could find and did your hair/hijab in the fastest way you knew how. Opting to skip breakfast in favour of saving a few minutes, you yelled a goodbye to your roommate before rushing out of your apartment and into the elevator.

By the skin of your teeth, you managed to make it to your lesson in the nick of time. The classroom was already full but the professor had yet to arrive so you walked in slowly as you searched for any empty seats. There weren’t many options and more and more people were beginning to watch as you shuffled awkwardly between the rows of chairs. You slipped into the empty seat that was closest to where you were standing in the hopes people would start to mind their business.

Not long after you got settled, the professor entered and welcomed you all to the class before introducing herself and launching straight into a presentation the entailed details about the course and what you would be learning for the next semester. 

She explained that you would begin by going over Kant and his approach to ethics. The professor wasted no time on icebreakers or anything similar, she launched straight into teaching the basics of Kant, covering his proposals of categorical and hypothetical imperatives as well as his deontological approach to ethical decision making.

You were keeping up well with note taking at the pace she was going, making sure to scribble any objections you had to Kant’s claims down on your paper as she spoke. While you weren’t extremely versed on his or many other’s approach to morality, you were quite opinionated anyway so almost any point he made you had some way to refute it.

As you neared the end of the lecture, the professor put up a blank slide on the board and turned to the class. She explained that you were all to discuss with the person closest to you your opinions on the theory and what you thought the strengths and weaknesses of it were.

You were sat on an aisle seat with no one to your left so you inclined your head to the right to see who you would be discussing with, hoping to god that it wouldn’t be one of those ‘to play the devil’s advocate’ assholes. 

Sat beside you; a man with what appeared to be very faded, desaturated, pink hair and an almost imperceptible smirk as his eyes made contact with yours. There was an empty seat to the other side of him; so you were his only option just as he was yours.

You didn’t return the smile. Instead switching your attention back to the lecturer as she outlined what exactly it was that you had to do. Why was this university full of attractive boys? What had you done in a past life to deserve such torment?

You rolled your eyes in a way you hoped was nondescript as the professor finished up what she was saying and instructed you all to start your discussions. The whole class obeyed; you shifted a bit in your seat to look at your classmate who was glancing over the notes in front of him.

You introduced yourself first, not finding him unapproachable. He inclined his head towards you in a slight nod when you finished.

‘I’m Hanamaki Takahiro,’ His voice was low and warm, ‘But you can call me Makki.’

‘Okay, Hanamaki,’ You weren’t about to fall for that, these boys were so unoriginal, ‘What do you think about Kant?’

‘Well,’ He twirled his pen back and forth quickly across the fingers on his right hand, ‘I think it’s a good theory.’

‘Why?’ You interjected immediately, making it obvious even with your slight tone that you did not agree. 

‘His whole thing is intention over outcome,’ He explained, ‘I think that’s the right way to look at making decisions.’

‘You think it’s never right to lie?’ You questioned him.

‘Are you saying it’s right to lie?’ He responded, quirking a playful eyebrow, inviting you to argue.

‘In some circumstances,’ You explained, ‘Society would fall apart if people told the truth all of the time.’

‘Then it’s not a very stable society,’ His retort came quickly.

‘It’s about how stable the society is,’ You worked to keep your tone level, certain that he would get a kick out of you becoming heated when he was lolling so casually in his chair, looking at you with something like fascination, ‘When you’re deciding how to act, you always need to think about the effect of your action since every situation is different.’

‘You can’t predict the future though,’ He sat a bit straighter in his chair, ‘It’s better to go off of rules so you don’t encounter biases.’

‘If the system of ethics is being decided by a human, there’s going to be errors. Whether or not you're acting on rules or instinct or reason.’ You leaned towards him unconsciously, your voice rising a little above the average volume of other people in the class which was now very low.

‘That doesn’t mean you can’t minimise bias,’ The air of nonchalance is slowly receding as he defends himself, ‘If you pass any suggested rule through the qualifications he suggests then you can pretty much get rid of any personal opinion.’

‘Aha,’ You scoff aloud at his statement and he raises his eyebrows at you again, daring you to refute his claim, ‘Any rule specific enough will become a duty, it’s just about how tricky you can be with the wording. I could justify anything I wanted if I put enough conditions on it.’

‘How manipulative,’ He comments, that sly smirk readorning his features. He didn’t even offer an argument against you. 

‘It’s not manipulative,’ You rolled your eyes, ‘It’s just exploiting the flaws in an extremely flawed theory.’

‘Sounds manipulative to me but I see your point,’ When he didn’t say anything else, you spoke.

‘Well?’ You questioned, continuing when he looked at you with a lost expression, ‘Don’t you have a rebuttal or something?’

‘I told you, I see your point,’ He offered you a slight shrug, ‘Besides, half the class is already gone.’

You leaned away from him, glancing around the room to see he was in fact correct and you had been too enthralled in your hushed discussion to even notice that the teacher had ended the class.

‘Oh,’ Your voice had settled back down to it’s usual register.

You gleaned across to the professor who was now packing her things into her bag and getting ready to move to her next classroom. She caught you looking and offered you an encouraging smile, having obviously noticed how deep into discussion you had been. 

‘You guys can share that exciting argument with the class next lesson,’ She said with a light chuckle.

You had to keep from rolling your eyes, that was possibly first on the list of things you didn’t want to do. You offered her a slight smile and a courteous laugh, agreeing that it would be interesting as she headed out of the room. 

The boy beside you cleared his throat, drawing your attention away from the front of the lecture hall. You turned your head slowly as he began to speak.

‘Do you wanna continue the discussion over lunch?’ He inquired, ‘I’d be happy to spare some time to educate you.’

‘You already said that I was right,’ Your tone was slightly defensive, ‘So wouldn’t it be me educating you?’

‘I said I saw your point,’ He amended, ‘Not that you were right.’

‘Hmm,’ You glared at him, looking him up and down. 

Looking the way he had returned to his relaxed position in his chair, somehow looking as comfortable as you imagined he would do if he was reclined on a bean bag. He paid little mind to you scanning his body, seemingly unfazed. Though, because of his handsome features and athletic features, you were sure it was because he spent a lot of time being inspected by girls. 

‘I actually have plans,’ You informed him, snapping out of whatever daze he had you in, ‘But I’d be happy to point out all the errors you make some other time.’ 

As you spoke, you cleared your notepad and other stationary off the desk in front of you, shoving it all haphazardly into your bag. Makki chuckled at your words, making no effort of his own to move from his seat even as you stood from yours. 

‘I’ll catch up with you later then,’ He compromised.

‘Yeah, see you later,’ You agreed as you began to walk out of the room.

Makki watched you leave, far longer than he needed to, before he made a move of his own to leave the classroom with a wide smile still plastered across his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deontological- describes an approach to ethics where the focus is on the intention behind an action  
> Kant- a scholar who proposed different theories, most popular is his self-titled 'Kantian ethics'  
> Categorical imperative- something you are duty-bound to do (to be a good person)  
> Hypothetical imperative- something you are only required to do if you have a certain goal  
> Kantian ethics- in short, it involves a series of tests an ethical claim must pass to become a categorical imperative


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